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First Dallas nurse infected with Ebola describes herself as 'blessed'

"I feel very blessed and have gained strength from their support. I'm doing really well thanks to this team, which is the best in the world."

By Matt Bradwell
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas (www.TexasHealth.org)
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas (www.TexasHealth.org)

BETHESDA, Md., Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Nina Pham, the first U.S. nurse diagnosed with Ebola after treating Thomas Eric Duncan, said she is "doing really well" just prior to her Thursday night transfer from Dallas to Bethesda, Md.

"I'm so thankful for the outpouring of love and support from friends and family, my coworkers and complete strangers," Pham said in a prepared statement.

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"I feel very blessed and have gained strength from their support. I'm doing really well thanks to this team, which is the best in the world. I believe in my talented coworkers.''

Pham was chartered from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital hospital where she contracted the virus to the National Institute of Health's isolation facility in Bethesda, where she arrived Thursday night. Pham's condition and the extra attention she required left the hospital overwhelmed and resource-thin.

"With so many of the medical professionals who normally staff our intensive care unit sidelined for the continuous monitoring, we felt it was in the best interest of the hospital's employees, the nurses, the physicians, the community, to give the hospital an opportunity to prepare for ... for whatever comes next," Texas Health spokesman Wendell Watson told USA Today.

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A second nurse infected with Ebola was transferred to a treatment facility in Atlanta the day before Pham was moved from Dallas. A Yale University Student who exhibited Ebola-like symptoms is believed to not carry the virus, according to an official statement made by the Connecticut hospital he was treated in.

"Due to an overabundance of caution, before we fully rule it out, we will wait for the CDC official confirmation of the test result."

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